Epilogue
Ten months later
‘S o, how does it feel?’
Allie was taking a moment to herself in the backroom of Daunt’s. It was almost two years since she had launched The Wishlist here and some things, like the fact it was still Simon checking in on her, arranging the books, and generally organising the whole thing, never changed. And in other ways, it felt as if her whole life had turned around in that time.
She smiled at Simon as he busied himself about, tidying book boxes to the side and shutting down his computer for the evening, ready to head out into the shop to celebrate.
‘Sometimes I can’t believe I managed to write another book. There were definitely times when it felt like I never would.’
Simon chortled amiably. ‘They all say that. I think it’s nice that Brinkman’s gave you that time off. They should do it for more authors, look what it’s done for you! I heard your new sales manager saying your pre-sales were your biggest yet!’
‘Shh!’ Allie laughed. ‘Don’t jinx it.’
‘Right, I’d best be getting back out there. Sure you’re alright? You don’t need anything?’
Allie peered round the door into the shop and confirmed to Simon that she was absolutely alright and that everything she needed was right there, she just needed a few more minutes to take it all in.
She stood just out of sight of her guests in the shop, able to watch but not be watched. It was the first launch in a while that her mum had been at. Allie had a feeling that Martha might have had a word, pointing out that perhaps it would be nice if she showed up and so their mum and Nigel had flown in from Spain especially. Nigel seemed to be quizzing some of the sales team on selling techniques while her mother was making the head of design blush to the roots of his carefully styled hair. Allie shook her head, not wanting to know what her mother was talking about.
Martha was there, hovering awkwardly about. Obviously close enough to witness their mother’s antics but not close enough to stop whatever it was that was going down. Allie felt a rush of affection for Martha who was doing her best to be here for her, when she would probably much rather have been somewhere else and surrounded by more sciencey people. But she had shown up for Allie and had been doing a lot of that recently. After Allie had introduced Will to Martha a few months back, Martha had pulled Allie aside and told her that she knew their dad would have approved, that she could tell Will was the one he had been talking about. Which made Allie wonder whether she wasn’t quite as good at hiding her emotional scars as she had thought she was, and that perhaps Martha had realised all along. Or perhaps Martha had just had one too many drinks that night, because she really wasn’t used to having more than one glass of anything.
Incidentally, Jess and Tom seemed to be in fine spirits, downing as much of the free wine as was possible. Allie’s fears about their move hadn’t materialised; after several months of looking, Jess had declared that she didn’t want to leave London actually anyway and Tom said that as long as they could afford a second bedroom he was happy to remain within walking distance of a Tube. And so that’s what they had ended up doing, the only casualty being Jess’s huge antique wardrobe, which wouldn’t fit into either of the bedrooms in their two-bedroom semi in Ruislip. And so Jess had bid it a teary farewell and only brought it up when she had a few too many drinks and was feeling maudlin. Allie tried hard not to believe it was her fault that the wardrobe had met its demise, caused by that wish she had made all those months ago when Jess had quite rightly pointed out that Allie was being ridiculous.
Speaking of, Mary Beth was here, back from maternity leave and always telling Allie that none of what had gone down would have happened on her watch. And perhaps she was right, but Allie actually felt OK about how everything had turned out. And despite all the long dark nights of the soul and all that damned writing, she really wouldn’t have changed a thing. Mary Beth was also kept busy, and off Allie’s back, with her new client, Martin, who had happily signed up to Mary Beth’s agency and was only too glad not to be handling any of the business end of his writing. He was here tonight, along with Angie. It would be his turn soon. His book was due to be published the following month and Allie had promised that she would be at his launch, just as he was at hers. And she sort of had to be, because Netflix had optioned the screen rights to his book and when they brought Martin on board as a screenwriter and consultant he had insisted they do the same with Allie. So, it ended up being that they hadn’t really switched plots after all and they both had really quite a lot invested in all of the stories. Allie thought back to that conversation she’d had with Jess, about her dad and about Martin and how defensive she had been. And now she could tell that there was probably an element of truth in the whole thing and that wasn’t such a bad thing after all. Had her dad still been alive, Allie was sure she would have been able to talk to him about her writing, bounce ideas off him and rely on him to be one of her greatest cheerleaders, which was exactly what Martin had turned out to be. He was deep in conversation with one of the young editors at Brinkman’s and Allie could just tell from the angle of his head and the flash of his eyes that he was pitching an idea. She smiled to herself. He had said this was his final book, his swan song, but it was obvious that Martin was far from being done, and the only person happier to see this than Allie was Mary Beth.
Allie had spoken to Angie earlier on. Allie still worried that Angie was upset that Brinkman’s had decided to publish Waiting For You first and that Martin and Angie’s story would have to wait. But Angie was just delighted to see Allie so happy and successful and Allie had reassured her that the fact that the sales team were still arguing over just the right title for the next book, meant that they cared an awful lot about publishing it right. So, Allie had two books under her belt and some free time to look forward to in the future. She had a few ideas about how she would be filling it…
There was one person missing and Allie felt her absence keenly. Verity wasn’t there. It was the first of Allie’s books that she would launch without her beloved Verity by her side. Allie had worried that when it came to it she would feel very wobbly about the whole thing but she felt surprisingly OK. Now that Verity was in charge of the whole UK arm of Brinkman’s, and busy planning her engagement to Richard (an event that Allie wasn’t quite sure whether Richard was even aware of yet), she often found herself pulled away from her first love, the books. Right now, she was at an investor meeting in New York but she had FaceTimed Allie earlier on and given her a pep talk, reminding her of how far she had come, and how much she deserved her success. And anyway, Allie was really starting to get to like her new editor. She could see her now, over in the corner of the room, pacing up and down, working on her speech. This would be the first major launch of Tessa’s career and she was taking the whole thing very seriously. She smiled as she saw the girl frown and cross something off the piece of paper she was holding and begin pacing once again. Allie knew she was in good hands; Tessa had come into her own and really flourished since Jake’s demise.
And then her gaze caught on someone else and she knew she had been spotted. And even though she was now used to seeing him every day, used to seeing his smile, feeling his eyes on her, the touch of his hands, the feel of his lips, she still felt her breath catch as it had the very first time she had met him, across vastly oversized canapés in the courtyard of the V&A.
‘There you are,’ Will said, his eyes sparkling with amusement at having found her hideout.
‘Here I am,’ she confirmed, smiling back and biting her lip.
‘You OK?’ he asked.
‘Yes, just, y’know, taking it all in.’
Will took her hand in his. ‘Ready to go out? I think Tessa might explode if you don’t get her up there doing her speech soon.’
Allie laughed. ‘Just one thing before then. Will? Thank you.’
‘For what?’ He smiled in confusion.
‘For all of this. I wrote it for you, it’s all for you. It has been ever since we met. You are my happy-ever-after.’
Will caught her chin in his hand and tilted her head up towards him. ‘Just promise me something?’
She tipped her head questioningly.
‘That you’ll always feel you can use me, any time you need some inspiration.’
Allie smiled and felt his lips on hers. Truly, she couldn’t imagine ever feeling any other way.